Russian police detained 11 members of an opposition group in a weekend raid on their office and apartments ahead of an anti-government rally on Monday, activists said.
Police linked the searches and arrests to an ongoing investigation into nationalist riots in December near Red Square, law enforcement sources cited by the Kommersant daily said.
But members of the opposition Other Russia group said the arrests were clearly intended to stop them joining Monday’s planned demonstrations on Moscow’s central Triumph Square.
"It was clearly meant to pressure activists so they don’t participate in today’s protests," Other Russia member Alexander Averin said, adding three activists’ homes were searched.
Activists were detained and questioned overnight but had all been released by Monday morning, except for Belarussian citizen Igor Berezyuk, who was accused of involvement in violent racist rallies involving thousands of people on Dec. 11.
After last month’s riots by soccer fans and neo-nationalists who attacked non-Slavic minorities, a top Kremlin adviser blamed liberal freedom-of-assembly demonstrations he said served as an example to radical groups to take to the streets.
Rights activists and Kremlin opponents have staged monthly demonstrations on Triumph Square on the last day of each month with 31 days, a reference to the right to free assembly guaranteed under Article 31 of Russia’s constitution.
Moscow authorities gave permission for 1,000 people to gather, but police in the past have beaten or detained demonstrators they accused of infractions during or after such rallies.
At last month’s gathering, police detained at least 130 protesters. Three opposition leaders were given short prison terms, including Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, who was jailed for 15 days.
Dozens of police and buses surrounded the square ahead of Monday’s planned rally.
President Dmitry Medvedev has promised to boost civil society and allow more public criticism of the authorities since he was steered to power by his close ally Vladimir Putin, now prime minister, in 2008. But most opposition groups say little has changed and their activities are still restricted.
